Olympia in the Peloponnesus

The target was the Peloponnesus. I had left Meteora and crossed the
mountains to Arta. Here I followed the coastline south to Patra. The first
sight of Patra I got at the bridge to the Peloponnesus. Very quickly it was
clear I didn't have much interest in Patra city, so I continued west to
Camping Kato Alissos, several km further on the road to the airport.

Olympia Hera ruins

It was Olympia I wanted to visit but I didn't want to follow the main road
which was way busy. So I took, what looked like an interesting road out of Kato
Achaia. According to my map this should be a reasonable good road to cycle.

And
it was for quite a bit of time a great road to cycle. So I went out and cycled
through forgotten road with little villages south. It was one of those absolute
beautiful roads a cyclist wants to find!

I had about 50 km smooth cycling through villages and small roads. By the
time I reached Agrapidochori the road because gradually worse.

I must have missed a junction in Latas because here the road became bad,
and a bit further, I had to walk through the riverbed as the road seemed to
have seized to exist. I was working myself through a complete empty land
into a riverbed, walked through and found another path on the other side.

Al together it was about 40 km very bad with sometimes walking, sometimes cycling
on gravel road. Some people on the way looked surprised to see me and directed
me further south were, as they said, the road would be good.

My compass told me I was going south and east, and according to the map that
should be OK. And it was OK. I reached the main connecting road Amaliada to
Tripoli/Corinth. I followed the road a little west and went south to Inoi.

When I finally hit again good quality asphalt, I had another 20 km to go
to Olympia which took me just over an hour.

Olympia

I had hoped there had been more to see but way too much was already
destroyed. Much of what was left was no more than the foundations of once
impressive buildings with here and there a pillar standing up.

Only the Hera ruins showed a bit more with many standing pillars. It was
a typical example where you need a guide (which I took) to make my
imagination work out what was once an impressive site.

Accommodation

Contrary to earlier days, in Olympia, I decided to stay in a guesthouse.
In line with the ancient site, I decided to stay at
Pension Poseidon which turned out to be a good choice.

Across the Peloponnesus

After two nights in Olympia, I decided to cross the Peloponnesus to visit
Corinth and see the amphitheater of Epidaurus. It would be a 2 days bike ride.
It was a journey on wide open 4 lane roads which were mostly quiet roads

The Peloponnesus is popular with holiday cyclist and it is likely you will
meet several. The roads are in good condition and it's never too difficult.
It's a very pleasant holiday trip.

Meteora

Corinth

The old ruined city of Corinth is worth your attention. It's not because
there is a lot of great buildings left but it's because there is a very
long, 8000 years piece of human history left. And the remains are still
impressive.